PERTH, Australia – The COVID-19 pandemic certainly put pressure on Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration during the 2019 to 2020 year, but it also showed that the agency was able to rise to challenge and not buckle under pressure, revealing a number of strengths that the agency will build upon, the TGA said in its annual performance report.

Two-Photon Research Inc. (TPR) has launched a diagnostics platform it said improves coronavirus detection via aptamers, small molecules that change shape when binding to a protein at the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 molecule that causes COVID-19. Light shone onto a vial containing a patient’s saliva and the Aptamer Molecular Photonic Beacon (AMPB) generates negative or positive results that are instantly displayed on a smartphone and stored for planning purposes by public health officials.

Coagulo Medical Technologies Inc. raised $6.5 million in financing to accelerate delivery of its precision-medicine coagulation diagnostics platform. 20/20 Healthcare Partners led the investment with participation from Sands Capital, Good Growth Capital, IAG Capital Partners, and private investors. The company also received funding through a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a COVID-19-related coagulation test.

LONDON – A huge row has broken out in the U.K. about the accuracy and utility of COVID-19 lateral flow tests (LFT) in screening asymptomatic people, as a pilot field study indicated sensitivity is less than 40%, and a nationwide roll out already is in train. At present 116 areas of the country are due to implement community testing from next month, health care workers are due to be handed personal LFT supplies to test themselves twice a week, and the government is about to mandate use of the tests in schools after Christmas.

TORONTO – It took the Vancouver, British Columbia-based biotech three times, but before the week in mid-December was over, Abcellera Biologics Inc. had finally closed its IPO on the Nasdaq, hoovering up gross proceeds of $555.5 million.

PERTH, Australia – Australia is employing some new genomic tools to help identify SARS-CoV-2 infections and track them within communities. Illumina Inc. and the University of Melbourne have partnered to establish the Illumina-University of Melbourne Genomics Hub – a first for the Asia-Pacific region – which will bring together the best of genomic expertise and technology in Australia.